AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m being irrational; I know that. But she’s starting to mean something to me, and I’m not prepared for this rush of dark feelings at the thought of her leaving.
Inside me, I feel the bricks building back up again, and I’m furious at myself for ever having let them come down in the first place.
“I have to,” Rose says, not backing down. Again, she looks back at the house. “But you’ll have to take care of Gran while I’m gone. It shouldn’t be more than a couple of days.”
The reassurance of her telling me she will be right back doesn’t quite work out. I don’t believe it; I don’t believe her.
A couple of days? For what?
“Let’s go back to my place and talk about this,” Hudson says again. “I don’t want Miss Katherine overhearing any of this.”
He turns toward his truck without waiting for us to agree, but we all follow, piling into his truck silently until the doors close and Eli starts in. “Why the hell do you need to go back to Washington?”
“Galor,” Rose says as Hudson drives off the lot, steering toward his property on the west side of Katherine’s.
“What?” I growl in spite of myself. I had intended to remain quiet.
Rose turns to look at me from the passenger side of the front, her verdant eyes shining with excitement. “Galor—the company I used to work for? They’re builders. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Hudson asks, his voice thick but steady. He’s keeping his emotions in check as my hands open and close into fists on my lap.
“I have friends who still work there,” she says. “Friends who can dig up case law and building codes, government loopholes?—”
“In Washington, not Montana,” I interject.
“And you don’t need to go to Seattle for that,” Eli adds.
Rose’s enthusiasm falters as she realizes her plan isn’t met with as much gusto as she thought it would be. “It’s better if I’m there, boots on the ground,” she counters. “And maybe not everything will pertain to Montana, but it’s a national company. They’ve completed plenty of projects here. Don’t you want to approach this from all angles?”
“You can do this online or over the phone,” Hudson suggests.
Rose bristles, turning back toward the front of the car. “I have a few friends who were lawyers at the company, who can actually get paperwork that we can use, stuff I can bring back with me. What is going on here?”
We all fall silent as Hudson pulls up in front of his house, stopping the truck. I throw the back door open without answering, and Eli bounces out after me.
“Eli! Connor!” Rose calls out as she emerges from the car.
I don’t stop until I’m at the front door, but Hudson has locked it, a strange concept for these parts.
First, Tony calls. Now all of a sudden, she wants to go back to Seattle? Fuck Tony and fuck MVP.
A gentle hand on my arm makes me flinch, and I look at Rose’s worried face. “I want to save the properties before MVP can do any more damage,” she tells me softly. “That’s all I want, Con. I want us all to be free of this, so we can live our lives. Don’t you want that, too?”
“And Tony has nothing to do with this?” I sound jealous and petty. We haven’t ever talked about if there is something more between us than just sex, but still, I can’t hold that inside.
“Of course not!” she cries. “Tony is a piece of shit who only thinks about himself. I’m not a psychologist, but I’m positive that any doctor with half a brain would diagnose his narcissism. He treated me terribly. It’s over between us.”
I don’t say anything, and her eyes bore into mine, trying to convince me of her words.
“Besides, he was a terrible fuck. I’ve had more orgasms with you over these past months than I had during our entire years-long relationship.”
That gives my ego a little boost, but I can’t say I am entirely convinced. The timing is just too suspect.
“Why don’t we hold off on the idea of you leaving for a minute?” Hudson offers, and I can’t help but think that he says that for my benefit, which is unlike him.
He drops his keys onto the entry table as we wander through the foyer.
“There’s no time to do that,” Rose argues. “We’ve already wasted enough time. That’s why MVP has been able to move. What I need is for one of you to loan me your vehicle, so I can make the drive to Seattle, because Gran’s truck isn’t going to make it.”
